A month before Kristen Faulkner of the United States won her country's first gold medal in the road race in 40 years, no one expected her to compete in the Olympics. In fact, as of early July, she was not even expected to compete in the road race. Her attention was solely focused on the team pursuit competition, which would start on Tuesday.

However, the 31-year-old Alaska native took the long way around and entered the road race, beating two of the best female cyclists in history, Marianne Vos (Netherlands) and Lotte Kopecky (Belgium), in a fiery attack almost exactly 4 km from the line in the Team Pursuit distance. They beat them.

Faulkner couldn't believe she had won as she crossed the line on the other side of the Eiffel Tower.

"I knew I had won, but to be honest, emotionally it was a little surreal. But honestly, emotionally it was a little surreal. Even though I came here with the confidence that I could win a medal, I couldn't fully accept that.

Faulkner's journey to the top of the Olympic road race podium was both short and long. A former rower, she graduated from Harvard University and worked in the financial industry. She only started riding a bike in 2017, and just over three years ago she left a solid job in New York City to commit to a professional cycling career in 2021.

Her rise to prominence was meteoric, but the road Olympics were not the pinnacle she was aiming for. Faulkner finished second at the individual time trial national championships in May, just 11 seconds behind triathlete Taylor Knibb, missing out on an automatic berth on the US road team. As a result, she turned her focus back to Team Pursuit, where she had been training for over a year.

On July 9, her road racing ambitions suddenly became a reality when USA Cycling announced that Knibb had declined to join their road team due to her lack of bunch racing experience.

Even during the race, however, she said she considered abandoning it for a track race.

"I actually almost didn't race the road race because I had the Team Pursuit two days later. Because I think we have a really strong team in Team Pursuit. I think we can aim for medals. So I had to ask myself, 'Can I aim for a medal in the road race as well? Because ultimately USA Cycling wants us to medal.

"In the team pursuit we can aim for a medal, and it was a big risk to do the road race before the team pursuit. So I had to have a long talk with my coach. I had to find out if I could really win a medal in the road race."

It was exactly the kind of careful analysis and risk assessment she had developed in her previous job at a venture capital firm, and the risk definitely paid off.

Faulkner's decision to enter the road race was not due to Knibb's sudden change of heart, she revealed at the post-race press conference.

"Over the past few months, and especially the past week, we have had many discussions with myself, USA Cycling, and our coaches about how we can perform today and how we can maximize our recovery for Team Pursuit.

"We did a lot of race simulations as part of our training. Through the race simulations I found that I was recovering quite well.

"I made a promise to my track coach that I would only race on the road if I thought I could medal.

Fortunately for Faulkner and USA Cycling, she had the form and race intelligence to shine beyond her years in the sport. Not only did she skillfully avoid a crash by teammate Dygert with 48km to go, but she easily slipped into the lead pack as potential winners such as Kopecký and Lorena Wiebes (Netherlands) were forced to match chase.

Faulkner was still in contention for the medal when Vos raced with Hungary's Blanka Vas with just over 20km to go.

"I felt pretty strong throughout the day, and after the first cobbled climb I said it was the best feeling I've had in a really long time. So I just want to keep racing like this and win a medal."

And in a brilliant chase with Kopecký, Faulkner made sure that his Belgian companions would continue to close the gap on Vos and Vas. With 4km to go, they closed the gap to Vos and Vas. Faulkner attacked almost immediately, knowing that he would not be able to medal in a sprint race against these three riders.

Now Faulkner would join Dygert, Lily Williams, Olivia Cummins, and Tokyo Omnium gold medalist Jen Valente at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome and focus on winning medals for them.

"I know I can win another medal in Team Pursuit. And I want to win two medals."

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